International – Oceans Apart

‘Oceans Apart’ – Arabic & Liverpool Artists at The International and Tito’s, Slater St.4 July to 17 July 2008The visiting artists come from Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan and the UAE. Including Muhanna EL Durra from Jordan, Dr. Nada Shabout, professor of Art History at MIT, USA and President of AMCA, the Association of Modern Art from the Arab world, Turkey and Iran

As part of the Oceans Apart exhibition at the International in Slater Street there will be a reception there on Thursday 10 July at 19.00 for the very prominent Jordanian artist, Muhanna El Durra

Muhanna Al-Durra is the pioneer in Jordanian visual arts as he was the first to introduce cubist and abstract art into the Jordanian art field.

He was born in Amman, Jordan in 1938, and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, Italy.

In 1964, Al-Durra established the Fine Arts Section at the Department of Culture and Art, Amman, and then established the Jordan Institute of Fine Arts in 1970, serving as is first director. Al-Durra is the first Jordanian to receive formal art education, and the first Jordanian to establish an art studio which he also used to teach students. He served as an ambassador of the Arab League.

Currently, he is a professor at the Faculty of Fine Art and Design at Jordan University as well as the president of the Association of Fine Arts, Jordan.

The exhibitions runs until 17 July.

For more details about the collaboration between Red Dot and Arabian artists go to www.pax08.com